Tensions took center stage during RFK Jr.’s confirmation hearing as senators didn’t back down from scrutinizing his shifting views on vaccines. His controversial remarks in the past, particularly on race and immunization, were brought back to light.
Senator Angela Alsobrooks, a Democrat from Maryland, directly confronted Kennedy over his previous claim that Black Americans should not receive the same vaccine schedule as white citizens due to supposed immune system differences.
“So what different vaccine schedule would you say I should have received?” Alsobrooks, who is Black, asked. “With all due respect, that is so dangerous.”
“We should not be giving Black people the same vaccine schedule that’s given to Whites, because their immune system is better than ours.” —RFK Jr.
So what vaccine schedule should I have received?
His answer was dangerous. I will be voting no. pic.twitter.com/RzRZAO6lJM
— Senator Alsobrooks (@Sen_Alsobrooks) January 30, 2025
Kennedy is now under fire for his remarks. Amid the heat, he tried to defend his statement. To support what he was trying to say, he cited an example of a study that looked at racial differences in immune responses to vaccines. He cited the reference to a Mayo Clinic study and argued that African Americans reacted more strongly to some antigens.
However, the very scientist behind that study, Dr. Richard Kennedy, who is not related to RFK Jr., rejected this interpretation.
“Yes, immune response can vary by race, sex, and many other factors,” Dr. Kennedy told NPR. “But suggesting that Black Americans should follow a different vaccine schedule is twisting the data far beyond what they actually demonstrate.”
Dr. Carlos del Rio, a professor of medicine at Emory University, spoke in support of Dr. Kennedy’s statement. He noted that RFK Jr.’s claims take the research “to a very unsafe place.”
RFK Jr. maintained throughout his confirmation hearing that he is a supporter of vaccines. But he refused to take down some of his earlier statements where he had linked vaccines to autism.
Alsobrooks’ argument comes from a 2021 speech in which RFK Jr. not only misinterpreted a Mayo Clinic study but also chose an example of a now-retracted study falsely claiming Black children had higher rates of autism when vaccinated on time. The study was discredited due to the flawed methods used and undeclared conflicts of interest.
He even misrepresented the findings of the Mayo Clinic study when he claimed in that speech that vaccines could push [Black boys’] immune response over the cliff, and that such vaccines could have their bodies “attack themselves by autoimmunity.”
“The vaccines that we’re giving them are overloading them and causing autoimmunity,” Kennedy said back then. It has turned out to be an accusation that the study author has had to categorically deny.
View this post on Instagram
RFK Jr.’s history of using race to fuel vaccine skepticism does not end there, though. He created a film that claimed vaccines were disproportionately affecting people of color. There, yet again, another Mayo Clinic study on the rubella vaccine was used. But the study’s lead researcher, Dr. Gregory Poland, rejected everything that Jr. had to say.
Despite the overwhelming scientific evidence that sharply contradicts his claims, RFK Jr. has yet to retract his past rhetoric. Irrespective, his ‘dangerous’ vaccine comments on people of color for sure raise serious concerns among lawmakers about the potential consequences of his leadership in public health.
